A Gondola to the top of Alpental?

I think it would be cool to have more lifts to more terrain at Alpental... but the problem is, there isn't really any more terrain. It's pretty constrained where it is, by wilderness areas, or "too-steep-to-be-skied-by-most-people" terrain. There just isn't any room physically to expand.<br>Seems like all this plan would do is introduce more crowds to some of the upper more interesting terrain at Alpental.

I think the proposed chair is a pretty good compromise - Increase uphill capacity without wholesale homoginization of the Alpental BC. Considerable amounts of additional control work would not be required nor would road building, tree/brush cutting and restructuring of the lower valley floor. Plus the chair would provide access to International/BC on those days when it is currently closed due to firm snow on Upper I.<br><br>As for the argument that a chair further out the valley would increase opportunities for BC type tours - I disagree. It currently takes under 30 mins by lift and traverse to reach Piss Pass from the parking lot when a trail is put in- a chair may save you 15 mins. This wouldn't appreciably make a difference for climbers or touring skiers.

I think Jerm has it right--that Booth Creek probably doesn't want to open the can of worms that would be involved with expanding lift service to Piss Pass. It would require untold delays and additional expenses to the EIS as all the areas from (and below) Knoll 1 to the SUP boundary would come under intense environmental and political scrutiny. They've chosen their battle: to increase uphill capacity in existing in-bounds terrain. One also has to wonder if they don't want to deal with the headache of rescuing the many more intermediate skiers that would use the chair and unknowingly get stuck above cliffs or in nasty drainages in the lower backcountry.<br><br>And yet on that note: the proposal includes a new patrol shack at the top of the Internationale chair (and at the top of Chair 2). I wonder if this implies a greater commitment by the patrol to backcountry access and management?<br><br>And I don't see why Booth Creek wouldn't go forward with the gondola and restaurant. They may not be Intrawest, but they have the capital. It would give them an opportunity to make a year-round profit (sight-seeing, mountaintop conferences, etc.) on Denny Mountain. That's ultimately what they're looking for.<br><br> powdermag.com/features/news/alpental-fs-preferred.jpg

<br>I'm envisioning a lift from the trees just right of Brownie Bowl either to the small patch of trees below Corey's Couloir (above the word "Bowl" in Sharon Bowl) or back to the top of the Internationale lift (or slightly higher). Thinking over it more, the latter might work best.

<br><br>I was in this area today and squinted a little to imagine how this idea would work. There are some reasonable flat areas for a base station, and the terrain is already quite open, so I think it could. I'm surprised they didn't put something like this into the plan.